The present invention relates generally to a disposable absorbent garment, such as a diaper, and more specifically to an improved garment design and method for producing the same which incorporates overlay strips which define a target region and form end caps.
The manufacture of disposable absorbent garments, such as infant diapers or adult incontinence briefs is well-known in the art. Traditionally, disposable diapers are constructed with a moisture impervious outer or backing layer, a moisture pervious body-contacting inner layer, and a moisture absorbent core layer sandwiched and encased between the inner and outer layers. More recently, elasticized waist bands and elasticized leg openings have been developed to provide a better fit and enhance the containment of bodily exudates.
Though elasticized waist bands and elasticized leg openings have enhanced containment of bodily exudates, they have not been entirely successful in preventing leakage. When a person voids, exudate is released relatively quickly at a localized region of the crotch portion of the disposable garment. This release is relatively fast and can overwhelm the garment's ability to absorb the exudate, possibly resulting in the wicking and overflow of exudate from the garment to clothing contacting the edges of the garment.
Therefore, there is a need to further enhance the containment of bodily exudates. Some disposable garments are presently being produced which include barrier cuffs, standing flaps, end shields, and target areas.
The concept of forming standing leg flaps is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,846,823 to Enloe which discloses diapers with elasticized side pockets. A pair of side pockets or standing flaps are made of water pervious material. The standing flaps extend the length of the garment and are elasticized to urge the standing flaps upward toward the body when the garment is worn. This configuration is described within this reference as slowing the sideways flow of fluidic material and as stopping essentially all the sideways flow of solid material. The Enloe design has several drawbacks. First, there is a lack of end caps. Although standing flaps alone are understood to assist in arresting the sideways flow of exudates, they do not contain the exudate flow towards the front and back waist edges. Also, the Enloe design requires extensive additional manufacturing to form these standing flaps.
The concept of forming end shields to prevent the flow of exudates to the waist end edges is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,753,646 to Enloe. Enloe teaches attaching waist flaps or end shields transversely across the front and back waist end edges of a garment. However, this design is understood to require the attachment of separate transversely extending end pieces as a separate and distinct step in the manufacture of the garment. The added step complicates the manufacturing process.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,738,677 to Foreman discloses an absorbent garment with barrier cuffs along the side edges and waist end edges of the garment. These cuffs have an elastic member along their edges which are described as performing the function of spacing the distal edges of the cuffs away from the liquid receiving surface of the garment when the garment is worn. This approach is also complicated from a manufacturing perspective because of the use of separate pieces for the side cuffs and waist cuffs of the garment.
The concept of forming a target area in an absorbent garment is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,662,877 to Williams which discloses a shaped disposable diaper which has a target area opening formed in a hydrophobic facing sheet. The facing sheet is attached to the upper surface of the garment such that it is in primary contact with the body. The facing sheet contains a substantially oval target opening central to the garment, creating an area or target through which exudate flows to a fibrous absorbent batt or core. The facing sheet contains zones of elastication along only the side margins of the oval opening to apply tensioning forces to the facing sheet and to urge this sheet away from the batt structure at the region adjacent the opening. To practice the Williams patent, the oval opening from the facing sheet is understood to be cut and then discarded or processed as scrap material. Therefore, the manufacturing process is wasteful. Also, Williams provides zones of elastication located only on two opposing sides of the opening. Consequently, areas of the facing sheet at the ends of the opening tend to remain flat against the absorbent core where they do not as readily capture exudate migrating toward the waist end edges of the garment.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,595,441 to Holvoet et al, a strip of liquid impermeable foil is cut in a trapezoidal wave pattern (FIG. 2 or 14) to form two strips. These strips are then shifted longitudinally relative to one another and incorporated into a garment with the deeper cuts in each strip adjacent to one another forming a target at a central area of a diaper and with the shallower cuts of each strip overlapping. A nonwoven material top sheet is then positioned over the top of the foil to complete the garment. The Holvoet et al approach is understood to lack a structure for containing exudates. When a person voids in such a diaper, the excess exudate which cannot be absorbed quickly enough by the absorbent batt will tend to flow over the nonwoven top sheet surface of the garment and outwardly from its edges.
Therefore, a need exists for an improved disposable absorbent garment design, suitable for use on adults, babies or persons of ages therebetween, which can be manufactured efficiently and which is not susceptible to the above and other limitations and disadvantages.